Rocker

Who was Rainman?

I'm all about conquering them and taking their oil.

The best is a French UAV that flies directly at you into your ROZ, co-altitude, in the middle of a TIC engagement.

Why do you shamelessly waste my time like this? ..........................................................I don't know! Classic! I get asked that sometimes when I use resistance tactics during checkride ground evals.

I'm pretty sure you'll get chiefed at any of the potential existing beddown bases starting night one. Iran isn't exactly the wild west.

What do you mean "drawn into another war?" That's loser talk. Sounds like something you'd hear on MSNBC. No shit. What the hell do you have training missions for, exercises? The most important part of military service is enforcing the nation's policy in potentially dangerous places with the possibility of losing your life in the process. If you're in for a career, you hopefully understand that those risks will be present throughout your 20 years, but that it's exactly what you signed up for. If it's not what you signed up for, this is probably not the career for you.

Amen. I wore my UPT-issued Addisons on every non-deployed flight until 31 Oct 2011 and have kept them in case the Air Force ever regains SA and lets us wear them again. Hell, I'll probably ask to be buried in them. I don't believe I'll ever think that the green boots don't look dumb. I took pride in keeping my black boots clean and at least somewhat polished. Polishing them was a pre-checkride ritual. Gone are the days when you could judge a pilot's experience by how many eyelets on his boots had the black coating worn off. The rudder pedals still don't feel right. Fighter pilots, those are the things you press with your feet to make the aircraft yaw.

Wrong - that's the uniform we SHOULD have kept!

Damn. The video said the guys were able to "talk him down" - I'll be curious to hear the final story on this. Hopefully he's caught before he does any damage and thank God this didn't go down.

It's not that the uniform itself looks bad necessarily; it's that it would seem there are so many more important things to worry about ahead of this. I hear you get your choice of musical instrument issue as part of the package. Joking aside, nothing official has come down that we're switching to this, has it? Maybe they just wanted to change it up for the ceremony - who knows.

That's really not that cool of an accomplishment.

So you're saying it doesn't seem to be a problem with the IPs or the studs, studs are hooking for "minute" and "absurd" things, and the evaluators can't figure out what the problem is. How long has the trend been happening? Were there any big changes in check section or leadership that can be correlated to the timing of this trend? My bet is the problem is with both the instructors and the students. If it's "minute" and "absurd" but it's something someone can hook for, then it's probably not minute or absurd (in the context of AETC). Minute and absurd can describe at least 1/3 of what's considered important in UPT.

This kid is no dummy. The beleaguered, exhausted, and dazed looks he had on his face in court today were, I guarantee you, purely for effect and designed to help plant the seeds of doubt that he's fit for trial and punishment. From the 30-second clip of him from court that's on repeat everywhere right now, his movements and expressions to me appear completely intentional and artificial. Worst part is, there are suckers out there who will buy into this and believe it and I wouldn't be surprised if the jury ends up being comprised of some of them.

All I found specifically for Iraq/Afghanistan vets is an Oryx hunt on WSMR that we can register for. The other military benefits are reduced fees for game and fish licenses for guard and active resident veterans and a free one year game and fish license for resident veterans who went on active duty after 4/3/03 and have deactivated. http://www.wildlife....tunity_2012.pdf Otherwise for Elk, there is a "Veterans Only" hunt 10-12 Nov. No such luck for deer or Pronghorn. http://www.wildlife....ections/elk.pdf And for licensing purposes, being assigned to Cannon makes us NM residents (second page down, #4). http://www.wildlife....information.pdf

Yeah, not up on the baseops as often these days, but just to hit a few points: If I have to live here, then you can bet I'll focus on the positives - as inconsequential as they may be. A few things I appreciate about the place: no traffic in the morning getting to work; everything is close by and easy to get to; spend way more time partying and hanging out at friends' houses than in my previous assignment (at D-M); I've got a nice house in a good neighborhood (although I still want to destroy everyone involved with inflating the market before the big influx) and very good neighbors (not just military); most people hate being told this, but it's an easy drive to awesome skiing, hiking, camping, etc. and other pretty cool shit; great places for breakfast burritos and several decent restaurants in the area once you get past the idea of "all we have is Chili's and Applebees"; the Days Inn Bar (you're damn right I just threw that on here); there is more than enough (for me) in the way of retail stores and such to sustain an entertaining daily life. Of course, these are subjective and your mileage may vary. My wife does not love it by any means, but again with a good house and nice neighbors/neighborhood, good friends in the squadron, the prospect that it's not forever, and the ability to get out of town as required on a weekend, she's good with it for now. Believe me: I wouldn't stay here a minute longer than my job required me to, and it boggles my mind that some people choose freely to retire and stay here. But go figure, they must have their individual reasons and opinions. 'Merica. I don't know - I haven't spent any time in Kabul, but I imagine it's not like there at all. I didn't compare Clovis to any type of town to begin with, I contrasted it with a big city in generalities. I've been here two and a half years. You get real and stop being such a diva. I would not put a light quite that wholesome on Clovis - close in some cases - but you're on the right track of what I see as some of the positives here. Despite the simple math, which I agree with, families don't simply fall apart because they end up in what feels like the middle of nowhere and kids can learn a lot from living somewhere less than ideal. That's really it. I'm definitely not trying to defend the godforsaken City of Clovis in any way. I'm just saying there is a bright side to being stationed here (as thin and faint as it may seem sometimes), and personally, I don't mind it. That's called an "opinion."

Clovis is less than ideal by most peoples' standards, but it's not horrible and you'll get used to it if you PCS here. If you're used to having easy access to all the big retail stores and chain restaurants, as well as a nice city with lots of things to do and nice, well-cared-for parks, roads, and buildings and a good school system, you most likely will not find those things in or near Clovis, NM. If you're moving here and expect certain amenities and conveniences that you've grown accustomed to from living in a bigger city, you probably need to change your expectations. You might go through the stages of disbelief, anger, despair, regret, resignation, acceptance, and hope, and depending on your degree of cynicism you might find those stages recycling at different times with certain things, but you'll generally get through all of them as you realize things like Cannon itself isn't bad and it's getting better, you're not here forever, there are some cool things to be found around here, and the stories you hear about this place are usually worse than things actually are. On top of all that, you're here to do a job and you're not going to make anything better by bitching. There are plenty of positives to living here and in my opinion, the mission outweighs most of the negatives.

Crossflow is not an impossibility, timing is everything, be the best at the job you've been given for now, and nobody likes a complainer. Disco_Nav963's advice is solid. An AFSOC -130 would be the most fluid transition, but as unlikely or uncommon as a crossflow to a Strike Eagle or Bone might be for one of you people, it would not be impossible with the appropriate level of leadership representation, MDS Functional buy-in, and an open billet. This is where timing and you being the best at your job come into play. And if it just never works out for some reason - well, that's the way the cookie crumbles and hopefully you ended up being the shit hot navigator who other people look forward to flying with. I can tell you for sure that we get prior slick and other Navs into the AC-130 Nav and FCO pipelines several times a year. While the H-model Gunship will likely be gone by the time you're eligible to move, the U-model and possibly the W should be hiring for the foreseeable future.

Her non-Mexican general-esque ribbon rack is clearly not grounded to the left breast pocket, nor is her port side US insignia grounded to the collar seam (and appears to be covered in greasy fingerprints), and I don't mean to pick, but 1986 called and they want their haircut returned immediately. And don't judge me for opening up the high-res and carefully scanning every square inch of it. You've all done it and you've all seen them chicklets up close.

Tough to tell for sure, but it appears this guy front and center is in the midst of falling and busting his arse. Bet that was a McDonnell Douglas design feature...take THAT, impudent rebel.

And a damn loveable one at that. And he would a pretty good example of my aptitude and level of committment to collegiate academia... Sent the RFI...thanks for the gouge. Did you get that degree and if so, is it the standard discussion board participation/final paper class flow?

Has anyone gotten their Master's through CCU? I recently heard about it from a buddy and it sounds like it's what I'm looking for (quick/easy/no credibility on the outside whatsoever/accredited). I'm currently a few classes into a National Security Studies M.A. with AMU, and though it's interesting and might make me sound smart one day when I'm a Fox News contributor, I'm through with devoting that much time and reading to a Master's if there are paths of lesser resistance out there to the same piece of cheese. CCU sounds extremely military friendly and I have about a year and a half to get this completed. Also, I'm not what some might refer to as "academically inclined," so recommendations to another school should be to those that are also known for their quick and easy programs. What it's worth outside of the USAF is not a factor.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1306699/Afghan-war-eyes-Taliban.html I saw this on Drudge Report today and it's worth a read, although I reject the implications of the parallels this jackass tries to make between the Taliban and the U.S. I'm guessing the text is a translation with all of the errors. AC-130s are mentioned a few times - I was unaware of any gunship "rocket" employment capability... What a great pity it would have been if this guy had been killed along with the scum he was running with. EJKIA - count it.

Gusting over 50 knots this evening...

In 2007, we drove from Tucson to Panama City, FL to spend Thanksgiving with my wife's family. A month or so earlier, one of our guys had PCS'd to the 71st RQS at Moody, and on his way out took the tap handles from our bar (at D-M) and left a ransom note. So my plan was, since I'd be in the neighborhood, to drive up there, do a little solo covert infil/exfil, and take the handles back. On the Tuesday night that we were out in FL, I drove up to Moody in the middle of the night, went to the 71st, and waited across the street in an unlit parking lot for several hours while their night lines RTB'd and debriefed, until finally the last people were out and gone around 0300. A couple of maintenance dudes who were parked near where I was stood out there smoking and bullshitting for almost an hour about 15 feet from me with no idea that I was right there. I thought about getting out and telling them to leave because they were taking forever and were talking about some really dumb stuff and were really starting to push my timeline dangerously to the right. They finally packed up and left on their own and I repositioned the car down to the front entrance of the squadron building. I knew the door combo, and hoped that it hadn't changed. It hadn't. I got into the building just before 0400 and ransacked the place. I took everything that was not physically bolted down, and cleaned out their bar (to include the tap handles). Their walls were left absolutely barren - the only thing I let them keep was a Sam Adams blow-up beer bottle. I made four trips out to my car, and was really starting to sweat the timeline, so I wrote a smart-ass note and left it in their bar (along with the Hillary Clinton mask), and took off with what I had. I was in and out in under seven minutes. I then drove over to where my friend who'd stolen the tap handles lived, and left an unsigned note on the door of his house that had my hand-drawn map of the town and how to get to his house, and a drawing of a hand giving the middle finger. I RTB'd to Panama City, my car packed with 71st crap, and got to the house just in time for breakfast. And OBTW, their response? Weak at best. They eventually stole it all back, but we had their stuff in our bar for more than three months and every time we knew they'd be in town, we'd stash it all away in our vault.