fire4effect

Totally correct on the first two issues. I guess I've gotten so used to it I didn't think about putting it out here. Definitely a technique to avoid getting appendages in the way of the muzzle and something a new shooter should account for. I like the idea of a training program for the M9 and hopefully for non manual safety weapons (i.e. Glock) too since so many being sold are of that type. A lot of the SF bubbas carry the Glock 19 and swear by it but in a minimally trained individual a negligent discharge is a real possibility.

G30 is nice and uses a .45 round. Does have thick grips. I used to carry a single stack S&W .45 for a very long time and the mag catch finally gave up the ghost and couldn't find a replacement part. Did love that gun. After a fair amount of internal debate I went with a Springfield XDM 9mm. Compact version has 3.8 inch barrel which is just under the Sig M-11s 3.9. OAL for XDM is 6.75 inches (pretty short for the barrel length) 13 round capacity with short mag (1.18 grip width). 9mm ammo performance has really improved over time and price and very ready availability is a plus. Use an Uncle Mikes IWB at only about 13-14 dollars and very thin material. Thin material means I can use with the pants I have. Even if it starts to wear out it cheap/easy to replace. 5.11 tactical has some concealment holster shirts you can wear under button dress shirt for deeper concealment. BTW LuckyGunner has some pretty decent ammo reviews for a large number of calibers/bullet weights including firing into gelatin. YMMV

In RC-East as most of Afghanistan the locals are well aware of those who aren't from the area. It just won't be a secret for long no matter how hard they try especially in the numbers being talked about.

If a pardon actually is in the works, my bet is none of us will hear about it until sometime on 20 January 2017. Right now it's a state secret.

BRILLIANT! Is there a way that the pardon can only be applied to the mishandling of classified information and not touch the whole issue of the Clinton Foundation? To me that lets you have your cake and eat it too.

I've been told the red passport is for official government business only just as it says. But granted that's my organization. ***break*** I think the other location is Tortuga. According to Captain Sparrow it's a partying place.

Word to the wise. Get everything in writing. Even when it's yours it's not really yours. May turn out down the road "we were just joking". https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-soldiers-forced-to-repay-enlistment-bonuses-la-times-report/ Adding insult to injury is having to pay back the full amount, including the 30% or so taxes that were taken at the time of payment.

While sometimes getting down and dirty is unavoidable in war the cost can go WAY higher than imagined if and when an American Servicemen ends up in the hands of the enemy. Used to remind (read: don't do anything stupid) my guys constantly that if somehow (doesn't really matter how) they end up in the hands of the enemy the combat power that will be expended in locating and retrieving them will be huge and take away from other missions. Not to mention the other lives that will be put at risk. Bergdahl is the most well known example though establishing if someone is dead or alive as happened in OIF as well can be no small feat with a huge effort required. As a matter of fact I've heard that assets including UAVs that may have otherwise been over watching COP Keating (prior to the Battle of Kamdesh) were re-tasked to try and locate Bergdahl. True or not you get the idea. In my mind if I can kill the SOBs from afar where they can't hit me then by all means let's do it. "If You Find Yourself in a Fair Fight You Didn't Plan Your Mission Properly" PVT Murphy

I recently worked with the spouse of a rated Air Force O-5 who made O-6 ABZ. They had accepted that his career was over and were making serious retirement plans. They just did a PCS on the way to finish the 3 years he'll need to retire as an O-6. To say they were surprised is putting it mildly. Their guess was that somebody on the board who knew him said WTF.

I think the deal for the Army (when they kicked a bunch of O-3s and O-4s to the curb a couple years back) went like this. If you want your Separation Pay you join a Reserve Unit for 3 years but if you stayed in until retirement the same deal to pay it back kicked in. Also, I quote "The three-year Ready Reserve obligation will begin on the active-duty separation date, unless the soldier has an existing service obligation. In such cases, the three-year obligation will not begin until the day after the existing obligation is completed in the Ready Reserve." Obviously more to the whole RIF process but you get the idea. The house always wins.

Know the area around Taji all too well. I had already rotated out earlier in 2006. To a Brother in Arms

And the public version https://www.navytimes.com/articles/the-mistakes-that-led-to-a-deadly-blue-angels-crash-and-how-the-navy-wants-to-prevent-them Low altitude Spit-S bites again.

Tough crowd and I learned English in the South with NASCAR. Y'all must be channeling my high school English teacher. Seriously though she was a great teacher. It's one of the downsides to typing as opposed to having a conversation face to face and not mention all the other non-verbal communication that gets lost in translation. More than a few heated exchanges on Baseops started that way in addition to typing under the influence. It was my attempt to denote a pause. I certainly wouldn't do that in official correspondence.

Roger that.......I'm cheap and don't subscribe to anything because of the abundance of free content.....respectable and otherwise....it let me read the whole article the first time but not now......the gist as most have found out by now is there is talk of reducing the hours required for an ATP for Mil pilots from 750 to 500 to help alleviate the shortage of commercial pilots

Apologies if this is addressed somewhere else...https://www.wsj.com/articles/advisory-panel-would-relax-rules-for-co-pilot-experience-1472808602...So from a practical standpoint what good would it do to lower the minimums for an ATP to 500 hours for military pilots? I would expect by the time the ADSC was up pretty much all would be above the current 750 hour requirement. Is this a bone (I'm sure my choice of word "bone" will garner a few remarks) thrown to those stuck in RPAs that aren't able to get enough manned hours by the end of their ADSC?

based on what I've seen over the years you'd get stuck in some sh!t detail out of spite nowhere near any job you would want.....so the next guy they recalled would play ball.....because that is how they roll no matter what branch you're in

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-redlands-settlement-sex-abuse-20160819-snap-story.html If the two principal parties in this case get married then they have pulled off the best scam of all time.......Now if they can just figure out how to get her name off the sex offender registry..........

Fair assumption.....meant it more tongue in cheek....should have been clearer......I admit that I am more than a little surprised that there is actually a thread seriously discussing a potential military role in a domestic civil war on a mainstream forum such as Baseops....that is what I was referring to the "times we live in" Now..........where is that rum and coke?

Interesting we are having this conversation in the first place. But given who we have running for the office of POTUS on both sides not really surprising. What would really be interesting would be the reaction of the Praetorian Guard (AKA Secret Service)....4000 or so strong? or say Brigade size.....who are supposed to be apolitical to the extreme....many of whom are former military....would they defend POTUS in a relevant scenario or walk....I understand that they're recruiting fewer than they are losing.......the times we live in....

Anybody know what the class A mishap rate is for the F-18 for say the last 10 years? Sounds eerily similar to the Beaufort SC crash of the Blue Angel's #6 in 2007. Not to mention a couple of mishaps that were dual engine failures with ground fatalities. So much for dual engine redundancy.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/videos/2016/may/05/12640/ Video from the local water treatment plant security cameras....can't say for sure but the smoke plume seems to show the direction of the wind is roughly in the direction of the crash for what its worth

I talked to a guy at the safety center in the not too distant past and the impression I got was they are trying to crack down/control release of sensitive information to essentially safety coded personnel. Apparently too much finds its way into the wild......shocked face.. Of course depending on if any "controversial" information that may be found in any SIB, especially if it relates to any potential human error seems to eventually come out.....I too am curious when/where the AIB will be released so all sectors of aviation may benefit.

I knew lots in the 2005-2008 and beyond time frame....one troop I know was accepted and very shortly headed to law school just as the stop loss came down...he was a less than happy troop on that whole OIF deployment. I understand he eventually made it to law school but he was typical of a lot of lives that got derailed. Worst of all the ones who had similar plans but their last stop was Section 60 at Arlington..........just trying to lend a little perspective

Can't argue the point we're a different world/country economically/geopolitically and in 1980 our strongest response from the Democratic administration at the time to the invasion of Afghanistan was to boycott the Olympics....on a side note it was just reported that a potentially large untapped oil field was found in Israel to add a new wrinkle...but if Donald Trump somehow gets elected there's no telling how he would react to a Russian provocation......though we all hope that the realities of being president as opposed to running for president would be assessed rationally.....(that's where our senior military leadership owes POTUS whomever it is the unvarnished truth)............Sunni/Shia animosity has only grown since we were all spending our many long deployments in Iraq and ISIS certainly hasn't helped the animosity. Would the Shiites from Iran and Iraq like to dominate Saudi Arabia/Suez Canal/Eastern Mediterranean/Israel etc...by actual or implied threat of force and be happy to let Russia provide the muscle? That to me is scary proposition.

All about the money........very little about Assad specifically....control Syria you wield a lot power over the world oil supply.......and global oil prices.....Putin knows what he has with our current administration and how far he can push.......in a year not so much....Afghanistan 1979 all over again. What's to stop them from pushing east and south once they own Syria